Bronco Graveyard Heavy duty 28spline axles

[BroncoBoy69]

Well guys i need your adviece. i keep breaking the passanger side rear axle im just getting stock replacements and now im thinking i should get a stronger one. are these axles going to hole up any better or at least not break as much. im runing 35in tires with 3.50 gears. i would love to upgrade to 31 spline but i just cant afford to change my carrier without gears and yeah its a big domino effect you know how it goes. please any one that has treided these or have any addvice let me know. Thanks guys

 

[sprinksbeme]

The new axles at JBG are stronger than the stock axles that came in your rig.
They our 1541h steel instead of the 1040 steel that was stock. The week link is the tapper to get to the spines. Buy 31 spline axles and have your side gears changed out. I did this once it was only $130 with me removing the 3rd member and taking it to my local shop. New 1541h Yukon axles from Complete off road are only $232 including shing right now. Just my thoughts if you can not get gears, lockers etc.now. at least you will have axles that will go with future upgrades.
Marty

Edit I wrote 35 spline instead of 31spline Sorry
Marty

 

[GoFastCrackPipe]

Buy 35 spline axles and have your side gears changed out. I did this once it was only $130 with me removing the 3rd member and taking it to my local shop. Marty

I believe there is a lot more to changing to 35 spline axles than just buying axles. Please correct me if I am mistaken, but it cost me almost $2000 for everything (new 3rd member, carrier, axles, bearings, etc...). Not to mention that you need to make sure you have a big bearing housing.

 

[SaddleUp]

I ran 28 spline alloy axles in mine with 35" tires for about a year. (I'm hard on axles and busted several both front and back before I changed to alloy ones) When I changed the entire rearend out a few months ago I pulled the axles to see if they were twisted and they are still just as straight as they were when I put them in.

 

[SaddleUp]

I believe there is a lot more to changing to 35 spline axles than just buying axles. Please correct me if I am mistaken, but it cost me almost $2000 for everything (new 3rd member, carrier, axles, bearings, etc...). Not to mention that you need to make sure you have a big bearing housing.

Dan, I think he was talking about using the conversion bearings to run them in a small bearing housing. I've never heard of just changing the side gears though. (I don't think the axles will even fit in the end of a stock carrier) The only way I know to do it is to use a spool that has been machined for the smaller bearing on the center section. Basically you stick heavy axles into the housing and then use weaker bearings at the axle ends along with a carrier that has thinner ends to fit the larger axle. Add to that the stock center section housing which has a tendacy to pop the bearing supports off and you get a recipe for serious breakage rather than just slamming an axle in when it breaks.

I personally would advise against this route for 2 reasons. First if you run some searches here you will find that there are several stories from people where the axles came out going down the road. This is always due to the axle bearing failing. Using the conversion bearing you are using an even smaller bearing than the ones that have failed. Second is that the axles will no longer be the weak point. Instead it will be the third member itself. I doubt the spool ends would be a big deal but the third member housing itself is known to be weak at the bearing supports. Instead of an axle breaking the bearing support is more likely to pop off which will take out the gears, possibly the carrier, and could still ruin the axle if it messes up the splines. It just doesn't make sense to me to stuff the big axles in unless the rest is set up to match it.

 

[sprinksbeme]

Gofastcrackpipe
The side gears on the 9'' are a easy switch sometimes the carrier will need a little machine work. I was only throwing it out there becase it sounded like there was not a lot of money to be spent on GEARS, both front and back.
I too have spent several thousand on gear changes and lockers, axles, bigger Axles, and lockers with higher spline counts. Just don't Think I would want to be stuck buying 28sl when the next upgrade may be a locker I made a mistake when I said 35spline as this is What I did to get to 31spline
And yes it would not be good to ugrade the small bearing without changing to large bearing ends. Not saying this is the way to go but is a lower cost opition